Rory McIlroy has revealed a secret European weapon before their upcoming defence of the Ryder Cup: virtual reality headsets shouting abuse.
Luke Donald, the Europe captain, handed players the equipment during a team gathering on Tuesday night.
The idea is to try to replicate what level of attention – or name-calling – the Europe team will receive in what is expected to be the hostile environment of Bethpage this month.
“They said: ‘How far to you want this to go?’” McIlroy explained. “And I said: ‘Go as far as you want.’ It is just to simulate the sights and sounds and noise. That’s the stuff that we are going to have to deal with.
“So it’s better to try to desensitise yourself as much as possible before you get in there. You can get them to say whatever you want them to say. So you can go as close to the bone as you like.”
Donald’s attention to detail is well known but this is a striking move. Europe have not won on American soil since 2012. “We are doing everything we can to best prepare ourselves for what it is going to feel like on Friday week,” McIlroy said.
“But nothing can really prepare you until you’re actually in that. You can wear all the VR headsets you want and do all the different things we’ve been trying to do to get ourselves ready but once the first tee comes on Friday it’s real and we just have to deal with whatever’s given.”
Pressed on precisely what messages came through his headset, McIlroy replied: “You don’t want to know. Not for publication.”
McIlroy did, however, play down the sense of the most fevered Ryder Cup backdrop in history. So much has already been speculated about the treatment European players might receive in New York.
The Masters champion said: “I think the more we talk about that, the maddest [crowds] or whatever, we might get there and be like, this actually isn’t as bad as we thought it would be, who knows. No matter if you’re an American team going to Europe or you’re a European team going to America, it’s the same. You know you’re not going to be up against not just a great team but the crowd as well. That brings its challenges.
“New York is definitely more of a cosmopolitan city, more of a melting pot and more backgrounds and people identify as part European. We should get a little more support but at the same time, you’re going to America with an American crowd.”
McIlroy will join his European teammates on a scouting trip to Bethpage from Monday morning. The Northern Irishman will cross the Atlantic in fine fettle after a 65 to sign off at the PGA Championship.
Meanwhile, a rain-lashed Wentworth hosted a second DP World Tour playoff in as many weeks. This one lacked the drama in which McIlroy won the Irish Open but it was still significant as Alex Norén claimed his second win in three starts. Both came in England and both came after a seven-year wait, after injury affected the 43-year-old Swede.
Norén saw off Adrien Saddier on the first sudden-death playing of the 18th as a wonderful chip set up a birdie four. Norén and Saddier both posted fourth rounds of 68 to tie at 19 under par in regulation play. Norén will be a vice-captain with Europe in Bethpage. It feels inevitable that the Swede will be asked to bring his clubs, should injury or illness hit one of Europe’s dozen players.
“Sometimes it comes easily and sometimes you’ve got to fight,” Norén said. “I have trusted the process and that paid off.”
Norén laughed off any prospect of playing in the Ryder Cup. “The other guys have played better than me throughout the year. The team is going to be fantastic.”
Aaron Rai and Patrick Reed shared third at 16 under. Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick were among half a dozen players on minus 15.
